Corbett budget plan needs to be sold

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Ground control to Major Tom.Is Tom Corbett running for re-election or something? After seemingly making like Punxsutawney Phil for two years, popping out from his burrow in the governor’s mansion from time to time to push his agenda, the Republican is now furiously making up for lost time.

On Tuesday he put the icing on the cake, rolling out a $28.4 billion budget plan that continues — in theory — to stay true to his no-tax-hike pledge, while doing something he has been roundly skewered for not doing the past two years, increasing aid for public education.

But what is most noticeable in Corbett’s spending blueprint is the breadth of the changes he is looking to spark in the Commonwealth.

Whoever said the devil is in the details had it half right. The devil actually is in the numbers. And a lot of what Corbett wants to do — including that spending boost for education – is contingent on him getting his way.

Consider three major planks in the governor’s fiscal plan:

• Unlike his first two budgets, Corbett is not calling for any more steep cuts in this budget — so long as the Legislature takes action to tame what he has referred to as the “tapeworm” in the process. That would be the yawning $41 billion in unfunded liabilities in the state’s two major public employee pension plans. To tame that beast, Corbett wants to convert all future hires to a 401(k)-style defined contribution plan, as opposed to the defined benefit now in place. And while he says he will not change benefits being received by current retirees, the same can’t be said for current employees. He wants to reduce the “multiplier” for those currently employed — in effect cutting their benefits. In a way, Corbett is asking legislators to take money out of their own pocket. And the powerful Pennsylvania State Education Association, representing state teachers, has vowed to take the matter to court.

• Corbett has said plainly that the extra revenue for education — a tidy $90 million — is tied to getting his way on the pension crisis. Without that, he’s hinted he once again will be looking for cuts. It’s not hard to figure out where he’ll look. He also has introduced a new wrinkle to the education funding equation, tying it to privatization of the state’s archaic system of selling alcohol. Corbett wants to sell off the state stores and then auction off 1,200 licenses to supermarkets and other private retailers. He says the move would raise an additional $1 billion that he would use for block grants to public schools.

• And in one of the most problematic issues, the governor is playing a bit a semantics in a bid to raise millions of dollars to sink into infrastructure and transportation, areas that direly need it and which have been ignored far too long. To get the money, Corbett suggests lifting the cap on the Oil Company Franchise Tax to finance a five-year, $5 billion plan targeting roads, bridges and mass transit. But his timing couldn’t be worse. The move would cause another spike in gas prices, at a time when prices at the pump already are approaching record highs. Experts indicate lifting the cap could cost a nickel a year, or about a quarter a gallon increase over the five-year duration.

Now comes the hard part. We’ve heard this kind of big talk before. The governor is hitting the road to sell his plan. He will need to summon traits he has not displayed in his first two years.

Otherwise, it will be one more budget rendition of “Groundhog Day” in a state that has heard this kind of grand talk too many times.

The floor’s yours, governor. Now all you have to do is close the deal.